1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscopic image pickup device which is connected to a proximal end portion of an insertion section which is to be inserted into a body cavity, and includes a camera head which captures an image in the body cavity.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an endoscope for medical treatment, there is known an endoscope apparatus which is disclosed, for example, in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. H8-15614 (Patent Document 1). In this apparatus, a hand switch is detachably attached to a grip section which is provided at a proximal end portion of an insertion section which is to be inserted in a body cavity. An operation button of the hand switch of the grip section is operated while the body cavity is being observed. Thereby, a control unit can be remote-controlled to control a light source device, a color monitor, a VTR, etc.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. H7-116113 (Patent Document 2), for instance, discloses an endoscope apparatus wherein a camera head is detachably attached to an eyepiece section of an endoscope via a camera adapter. In this case, a push switch is provided on the camera head. By operating the push switch, like the case of Patent Document 1, a control unit can be remote-controlled to control a light source device, a color monitor, a VTR, etc.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2001-17388 (Patent Document 3), for instance, discloses an endoscope apparatus having a different structure. In this apparatus, a camera head is provided in a direction which is perpendicular to the axial direction of the insertion section of the endoscope and is a vertical direction. The camera head is provided on the eyepiece section of the endoscope via an endoscope connection portion in such a manner as to be rotatable about the axis of the insertion section of the endoscope. In this Patent Document 3, the endoscope connection portion, which is fixed to the eyepiece section of the endoscope, and the camera head are coupled to be rotatable about the axis of the insertion section. Thus, at the time of operating the endoscope, when the insertion section is rotated about its axis, only the insertion section rotates and the camera head does not rotate. With this structure, the camera head is kept in the vertical attitude, and an erecting endoscopic image is displayed on a TV monitor.
Further, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2000-227559 (Patent Document 4), for instance, discloses an endoscopic image pickup device wherein optical axis deflecting means, which is composed of a beam splitter or a triangular prism, is provided in a camera head in the structure of the endoscopic image pickup device of Patent Document 3. By this structure, even if the optical axis of the camera head is misaligned with the optical axis of the endoscope, an erecting endoscopic image is displayed on the TV monitor.